The outstanding 2011-12 campaign was, without a doubt, his most impressive. Smith turned in a .930 SP, eight shutouts and finished fourth in Vezina voting, but over the past five years, he boasts a .912 SP, has turned in only 12 shutouts and has landed himself not one Vezina vote, not even a fifth-place nod. Among those years was Smith’s woeful 2014-15 campaign. And while that was a season where the Coyotes were dreadful by design, hoping for a shot at Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel, Smith’s .904 SP and 3.16 GAA were abysmal marks. He also lost 42 games, the third-most defeats any goaltender has suffered in the post-expansion NHL.
In addition, Smith ranks 32nd of 35 goalies to play at least 100 games over the past three seasons with a .911 save percentage. The goaltenders in similar range are Cam Ward, Antti Niemi, Kari Lehtonen, Chad Johnson and Jonathan Bernier. And while surface statistics don’t tell the whole story when it comes to Smith, underlying numbers don’t really do him much of a favor, either. Of those same 35 goaltenders over the same span, Smith ranks 26th at 5-on-5 with a .922 SP. That’s in the same company as Robin Lehner, Jimmy Howard, Ryan Miller and Jaroslav Halak — hardly a who’s who of the recent Vezina trophy races.
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